Summer Mummers 2014: 30-year veteran revels in Midland tradition

By Rich Lopez | jrlopez@mrt.com

Published 4:45 pm, Wednesday, July 16, 2014

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Summer Mummers 2014: 30-year veteran revels in Midland tradition

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This year’s hero, Rick Roll, is the ultimate do-gooder. He saves the day and gets the girl all while maintaining his integrity (these aren’t really spoiler alerts, people). Rick Roll is still foolish and naïve but it’s all played to a tee by Tim Rosborough.

And it should be. He’s been the hero for the 25 years now.

“I’m the old man now,” he said with, scoffing. “It seems like the blink of an eye. So this is my 25th year as hero, 27th on stage and 30th as a Mummer.”

Hardly an old man, Rosborough, 55, is the anchor to the show and the cast. Fellow Mummer Michael Fields described him as the epitome of Summer Mummers — a notion Rosborough is fine with.

“That’s just longevity. But if anyone needs to know anything, they come ask me. I’ve seen a lot of things through the years and how they work and don’t work,” he said.

He described his real world as a lease operator with XTO Energy — driving 200 miles a day inspecting the fields. Coming during the ’80s boom from a small town of 1,000 in Illinois, he’s been in Midland his entire adult life.

Rosborough’s personal history is practically Midland lore these days. He’s familiar not only as the perennial hero for Summer Mummers but even his stint on television for KMID and KWES news as the weatherman.

Rosborough is fully intertwined into the fabric of Midland.

“This has become a family for me. I go back each year because I get to meet all these people,” he said. “It takes 100 people to put it on, 300 people in and out. It becomes my social life. I don’t have a hobby really but I do enjoy theater. This is what I do.”

Those friendships have been the biggest positives as well as the training.

“Oh man, nothing fazes you. Mummers will train you for anything. I think actors grow by doing shows like these and entertaining crowds,” he said.

He also added he’s learned never to take a Mummers audience for granted.

“You have to believe in the character. You have to. Mummers will make you be the truest you’ll ever be on stage because the audience can always see the phoniness,” he said.

Even if lines falter and he cracks up onstage with his fellow cast members, it has to be authentic.

“That has to be genuine. Working with Justin (Tate), he has a way of doing things that make me laugh and he’s a lot of fun to work with.”

The butterflies never go away, even after 30 years.

For Rosborough, they remain because he’s fully vested with Mummers. The payoff is the years of appreciation for what he does onstage. And of course, Mule Train.

On the surface, Mule Train is a ridiculously simple act. Rosborough comes out in character with his cowboy garb, a mini-whip and a stuffed goat doll on a stool. He lip-syncs the song while cracking the whip on the doll. And yet, the audience roars with him each time the chorus plays. Rosborough doesn’t just go out and be silly. He’s punctuated the bit with effective choreography and commitment worthy of any vaudevillian stage.

In short, Rosborough is a magician. He pulls a performance out of his proverbial hat that is just as worthy as any theater work. Mummers doesn’t propose to be high theater nor does Rosborough, but he still knows giving it his all is needed to give audiences what they deserve.

“I just don’t want to fail. The crowd is always 110 percent behind you and they don’t want to see you go down. And I still enjoy doing it,” he said.